The 102nd California state track and field championship meet unfolded last Friday and Saturday at Buchanan High School in Clovis to its usual fanfare as the greatest high school event of its kind in the United States at the finest high school track and field venue in the state.
The event attracted nearly 8,000 fans on the opening day. The attendance topped that for the finals the following day.
South County student-athletes made a dent in the competition with four second day qualifiers and one medal.
•Eastlake senior Justin Cardoza continued his amazing postseason despite working through a strained quadriceps injury by clearing 6-5 to tie for fifth place in the boys high jump.
•Eastlake seniors Brandon Buu (boys triple jump) and Macaria Moore-Bastide (girls high jump) both advanced to Saturday’s finals in their respective events, while Eastlake sophomore Shon Martin (110-meter high hurdles) competed in last Friday’s prelims.
•Otay Ranch senior Hayden Brotschi continued the trend after successfully navigating the preliminary trials in the boys 400-meter dash with a personal record 48.12 to advance to Saturday’s finals, placing seventh.
That four of the five Metro Conference qualifiers advanced to the second day was noteworthy.
“It was a great day for the Metro Conference in Fresno,” Otay Ranch coach Julian Valdez underscored. “Any time you have athletes making it to finals at the state meet is an accomplish in and of itself.”
“Our kids have had some success,” Eastlake coach David Koopman concurred. “They might be disappointed they didn’t reach their goal. But it’s a big accomplishment to be here in the first place and to get to the second day is a really big deal. If you’re up here, you’ve had a great season no matter what grade level or what event.”
While competitors didn’t have to deal with seasonably high temperatures, which were about 20 degrees cooler this year than the standard 100-degree mark, they did have to deal with a relentless wind that affected participants particularly in the field events and especially the jumps.
But determination and perseverance won out and history was made on several fronts.
Cardoza qualified to compete to compete in three events — a first for Eastlake High School — and advanced from last Friday’s prelims to Saturday’s finals in two of them: the high jump and triple jump (along with teammate Buu, another first for the Titans).
Cardoza finished 19th out of 25 entrants in the prelims in the long jump with a mark of 21-3 to miss advancing with the top 12 to the finals. He did clear opening height in the high jump (6-4) en route to eventually slipping over the bar at 6-5 the next day to tie for fifth place and earn a state medal (the top six in each event did so).
With his quadriceps still bothering him, he took two jumps in the triple jump to finish ninth in the finals field with a mark of 43-9.5 (after jumping 44-7.5 in the prelims).
Cardoza won the Division I gold medal at 6-8 at the section championships and placed second in the long jump at 22-7.25 and second in the triple jump at 44-9.25 for comparison.
“It was really fun and it was cool being here,” said Cardoza, who will continue his track and field career at Cal Poly Pomona. “I’m glad I got here but I know I could have done better if it wasn’t for the injury. It happened in the most important meet of the year.”
“Justin had an amazing season,” Koopman said. “The big surprise, to me at least, was making it in three events. I thought he would go in the high jump but three events — that is a big deal.”
Buu was limited to one jump in the triple jump, recording an 11th-place finish with a mark of 43-8.75. He advanced to the finals with a prelim mark of 45-8.5 after jumping 45.4.75 to win the Division I gold medal at the preceding section finals.
“I could have done better,” the SDSU-bound Buu said. “I sprained my ankle a while ago, and I sprained it again in the prelims. It wasn’t fully healed. It hurt so bad that I could only take one jump in the finals.”
Martin qualified to the state meet with a section finals mark of 15.07 as the Division I silver medalist. He timed 15.00 to set a personal record in the state prelims at 14th in the field of 24 entrants. But his season ended there.
“It was amazing for my first time here,” Martin said. “I’m glad I PR’d. I’ll be back next year and the year after that.”
Moore-Bastide won the girls Division I high jump by clearing 5-7 to match her season best. She cleared 5-5 at the state prelims to advance to the finals, where he cleared 5-4 to place in a tie for eighth in the field of 12 jumpers.
But she is looking forward to competing at San Francisco State.
“Just getting here was pretty cool,” she said. “It was fun. The other girls were very nice at the finals. I could have done better but it just wasn’t meant to be. I want to thank all my coaches for helping me get this far.”
The Metro Conference nearly grabbed a second state medal as Brotschi came excruciatingly close in the quarter mile with a time of 48.57, a bit slower than his prelim mark.
Upland senior Christopher Coats earned the final state medal in the event in sixth place in 48.10 — placing the fleet-footed Mustang less than a half-second from bringing home shiny hardware.
“Haydn had a fun 72 hours attending Grad Nite, going up to the sate meet and competing two days in a row,” Valdez said. “He was our anchor all season. Matching his PR on Friday, unfortunately, the wind was brutal on Saturday and made for tougher results.”
Overall, however, it wasn’t a bad haul for section participants at this year’s meet. The section nailed down two gold medals — San Diego senior Charlize James in the girls 100-meter low hurdles and Cathedral Catholic junior Kapiolani Coleman in the girls 300 low hurdles — and 22 medalists overall (15 on the girls side and seven on the boys side.
It was an experience to be cherished for all those who competed, medals or no medals.
Speed racer
PARA TRACK GETS ITS MOMENT IN THE SPOTLIGHT AT HIGH SCHOOL STATE MEET
Running is for everyone, regardless of how fast they can put one foot in front of the other or if they have one foot at all.
It’s their God-given right, of course.
Spectators at Buchanan High School in Clovis had yet another chance to applaud the efforts and endeavors of the growing para track movement as state medals were handed out to bold and brave competitors at this year’s high school state championship meet May 27-28.
Medals were presented in 17 events in separate boys, girls and mixed races, as well as the wheelchair shot put.
Student-athletes from all corners of the state competed, including a contingent from the San Diego Section and, interestingly enough, South County.
Sweetwater High School’s intrepid quartet placed fourth overall in the mixed unified 4×100-meter relay with a time of 59.29. Five teams competed in the race. Oak Hills finished first in 45.49, followed by Laguna Creek in second place in 50.59 and Clovis East in third place in 51.20. Trabuco Hills finished fifth in 1:02.75.
The Red Devils foursome of sophomore Edgar de Haro, senior Michael Serrano, freshman Zarayah Crews and junior Oscar Guerrero had previously won the Division I gold medal at the San Diego Section championships May 21 at Mt. Carmel High School with a time of 57.35 while racing a team from Montgomery High School. The Aztecs unit of sophomore Elias Beltran, junior Jordan Benton, freshman Leonard Eugene and junior Roman Fajardo timed just behind Sweetwater in 57.56 to win the Division II gold medal.
Ramona junior Josiah Ettore won the boys para 100-meter dash (17.22), 200-meter dash (32.08) and 400 dash (1:07.58) at the section finals while competing in a racing wheelchair. He taxied his rig on the track at Buchanan High School to win all three events in 16.74, 32.14 and 1:05.18, respectively.
West Hills freshman Logan Mann won the unified Division II boys 100-meter dash in 16.13 and the unified 200-meter dash in 34.53 at the section finals. He competed at the state meet, placing sixth in the 100 para dash (15.97).
Crews placed sixth in the boys 100 dash unified at the state meet in 12.63 after placing second in 12.82 to teammate Guerrero (12.50) in the Division I race at the preceding section finals. Serrano finished 10th in the event at the state meet in 17.15 after placing third at the section finals in 16.18.
Crews (third, 32-3.25) and Serrano (fifth, 20-7.25) also competed in the unified boys shot put event.
Crews wore a wide grin after coming off the oval.
“It was challenging,” he said. “There were some good teams out there.”
Also from the San Diego Section, Imperial’s Audrey Aguilar finished first in the girls para shot put (17-5) and third in the mixed para 100 dash (24.34). University City’s Ismael Estrada won the boys para shot put (21-10.5) while teammate Zachary Grover was second in 19-7.25.
Aguilar won the Division III girls para shot put (13-5.5) and 100 dash (26.56) at the section finals while Estrada won the Division II boys para shot put (21-1.5). Grover finished second in the Division II para shot put (20-1).
Section finals
Division I boys unified 100 dash: 1. Cessar Guerrero (SuHi) 12.50, 2. Zarayah Crews (SuHi) 12.82, 3. Michael Serrano (SuHi) 16.18, 4. Edgar de Haro (SuHi) 16.61
Division I boys unified shot put: 1. Zarayah Crews (SuHi) 34-10, 2. Cessar Guerrero (SuHi) 32-1.50, 3. Michael Serrano (SuHi) 21-0, 4. Edgar de Haro (SuHi) 19-10.25
Division 2 boys unified 100 dash: 1. Jordan Benton (Montgomery) 12.13, 2. Roman Fajardo (Montgomery) 12.59, 3. Leonard Eugene (Montgomery) 18.61, 4. Elias Beltran (Montgomery) 18.72
Division 2 boys unified shot put: 1. Jordan Benton (Montgomery) 26-11, 2. Roman Fajardo (Montgomery) 24-9.5, 3. Elias Beltran (Montgomery) 24-7, 4. Leonard Eugene (Montgomery) 16-10.5
Division I boys unified 4×100 relay: 1. Sweetwater (de Haro, Serrano, Crews, Guerrero) 57.35
Division II boys unified 4×100 relay: 1. Montgomery (Beltran, Benton, Eugene, Fajardo) 57.56
